Extra roster spots going to waste
By
(AP Photo/Brandon Wade)
Friday and Saturday we watched in almost disbelief as Rangers’ manager Ron Washington made pitching change after pitching change at a comical rate. He had extra arms available because of September call-ups, and dammit, he was going to use them. Last night though, we watched Joe Girardi be handcuffed by a short bullpen, one that added just one arm when rosters expanded this month.
What’s the bullpen situation going to look like tonight? You have to figure Kerry Wood will be unavailable (pitched in three of the last four games), ditto Boone Logan (also appeared in three of the last four). Chad Gaudin‘s a definite no-no after throwing 31 pitches in two-thirds of an inning last night, his third appearance in the last four games. So that leaves Girardi with Mariano Rivera, Joba Chamberlain, David Robertson, Jon Albaladejo, and Sergio Mitre. What happens if rookie Ivan Nova gets knocked out in the second inning? What happens if the game goes extras again? There’s no extra bodies around to soak up meaningless innings, which forces the core guys to work more than they should. Given the great lengths that Girardi goes to to rest his team, you’d think seats in the bullpen would be a premium because of all the extra arms.
Obviously, Romulo Sanchez’s poorly timed elbow injury hurt the September pitching situation a bit, but that’s life. Teams have to deal with injuries all the time. But to only have one extra arm in Jon Albaladejo, a short reliever at that, at this point in the season seems like a rather terrible use of the roster. And this goes beyond the pitching as well, I don’t want to keep jumping all over the bullpen. With Brett Gardner and Nick Swisher nursing injuries for quite some time now, why isn’t Chad Huffman with the team? Yeah, Greg Golson and Colin Curtis are up, but what’s the harm in calling up Huffman just for depth? He doesn’t have to play, but it sure would be nice to have him just in case.
You can add players in September to make life easier on the regulars, so why aren’t the Yankees doing it? Yes, the 40-man roster situation presents a bit of a problem, but that’s a pretty lame excuse. I understand not wanting to call up someone like Andrew Brackman or Hector Noesi, an actual prospect, but every team has dead weight on the 40-man, the Yankees included. Reegie Corona can’t hit a lick (.259/.333/.344 in 2,959 minor league plate appearances) and is made completely expendable by Eduardo Nunez and Ramiro Pena, so he can be taken off the 40-man in favor of someone like say, Royce Ring, who would give Girardi the basic September right of a second lefthander out of the bullpen.
The newly acquired Steve Garrison is another guy that could be removed from the 40-man roster in favor of a player that’s more useful to the big league team right now. Think about how the Yanks acquired Garrison for a second; the Padres designated him for assignment and they claimed him off waivers. Since the Yanks had the best record in baseball at the time, they were the last team that could have claimed him, so literally every other team passed on Garrison first. Chances are they’ll do the same less than a week later, no? That 40-man spot could be better used on someone that help the team right now, down the stretch, even in a limited capacity.
Roster spots are precious, like outs in a game, but September makes everyone’s life a little bit easier given the ability to call up extra players. The Yankees really aren’t taking advantage of those extra spots right now, certainly not on the pitching side of things, and it’s come back to bite them a bit recently. When your starting rotation is full of one ace and bunch of question marks, getting some extra arms seems like common sense. Considering how far ahead they are in the race for a playoff spot and all the players nursing injuries, the Yanks seem to be really dropping the ball when it comes to maximizing the roster this month.
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The Mason Williams Watch
Royce Ring should be with us. He can give Girardi the option of not using Boone to face a lefty in the 5th or 6th inning and then be taken out. Totally infuriating….
Absolutely agree.
I’ll argue that we should have Ring as a 2nd lefty instead of Gaudin or Mitre even disregarding the expanded rosters.
What happens if rookie Ivan Nova gets knocked out in the second inning? What happens if the game goes extras again? There’s no extra bodies around to soak up meaningless innings, which forces the core guys to work more than they should.
Irrelevant to the overall argument, but I believe Vazquez is available out of the pen tonight incase something goes horribly wrong.
its because they’re bringing up montero and he is so legendary that he takes up 3 spots on the 40 man.
I was in Scranton for a legendary homerun to left center a few weeks ago. 475 feet or so. Beautiful.
How the Yankees have handled the 40 man situation so far in September really is strange. I mentioned this last night amongst the post game debacle.
The Yankees will be short in the bullpen now for at least the 3rd day in a row. Short and bullpen are two words that should never be uttered in the same sentence in September.
Could call up Reegie, put him on 60-day DL and put Ring on the 40-man. Try to trade Reegie in the offseason or release him.
The Yankees will be making an awesome september callup in about five days, Andy Pettitte. Part of the problem is that some of the guys that should have been september callups, like Nova, had to fill in for injured pitchers Pettitte, Aceves, and Marte. Sanchez got hurt, Melancon was traded. Other than Ring, there aren’t really any pitchers left. Another roster inefficiency is that that they are basically running a 6 man rotation.
It is pretty confusing how this team could tire out a 9-man pen which includes 3 long men though.
i have been saying this since april,cashman does not put a good bench together.with the payroll they have do not tell me the yankees could not field a better bench than cervelli,pena,kearns,johnson,russo,miranda,curtis,moeller.the only bench doing anything is thames.
I am not sure why you are including Johnson. Is there another Johnson on the bench?
Girardi: Have you seen my bench Johnson?
Cashman: Keep it in your pants Joe! I thought I was done with this crap when Matsui left for LA.
HA!
Why do people not understand that players want to start and not be bench players? You can’t just throw $ at a player to ride the pine for you. Look at Hairston… he left for regular playing time with SD. Kearns will probably leave as well for a more playing time elsewhere. Go look at every teams bench, its not like they are throwing All-Stars out there. Most times your bench is made up of guys not good enough for regular playing time or they are some times young guys from your system.
And it could have been worse. No way they could have expected Moseley to pitch into the 7th inning against Texas a few days ago.
And if you believe their concern with Joba is about his appearances, then they should have been more prepared back there. Especially when, although only recently officially confirmed, it has looked for a while now like Marte and Aceves wouldn’t see a mound again this season.
Gaudin and Mitre are useless and have been for some time. And when you get in a stretch of games that aren’t blowouts one way or the other, the back ass of your bullpen gets a spotlight shined on it and it ain’t pretty.
A quick analysis:
1) dump Reegie, bring up Ring
2) Aceves to the 60-day DL, bring up Phelps
3) Sanchez to the 60-day DL, bring up Mitchell
4) Marte to the 60-day DL, bring up Pendleton
5) DFA Huffmam (a redundancy at this point), bring up Warren when done at AA, MIGHT be the most polished among young guns at AA
Thoughts?
I don’t think brining up any real prospect is a good idea and I think Warren has to be considered a real prospect at this point. If for no other reason than to avoid another Joba situation. There is not any reason to stunt the development of another pitching prospect by letting him have success in the pen and have the b-jobbers inside and outside of the organization drive stupid personnel decisions.
Aceves and Marte are already on the 60-day DL. Why would you call up Mitchell? What has he done to earn it? There’s also no reason to call up Warren, he’s actually got a chance to be useful in the future. Why screw it up by rushing him?
Mike, Does pitching Warren in relief with NO expectations really hurt his development?
Girardi to Warren: Adam, we think really highly of you and your future. We don’t expect any pitcher out of Double A to mow down a major league lineup. However, we’re trying to rest the guys so go out there and have some fun.
When is the last time a team called up a guy probably a year or two early, even just for September, and it worked out well for them?
there have been many guys that have gone straight from double A to the majors and have been successful. Roy oswalt and mike stanton from this year are two that come to mind. Pujols went straight from the midwest league to the majors. and how about the guys who have gone straight from COLLEGE to the majors (Houston street, chad cordero). i realize most of these guys are supreme talents but if the yanks can promote phil coke from AAA after just 16 innings there can’t they promote a strike thrower like warren? again we’re not asking him to carry a big load just to be an extra arm out there in september.
P.S im new to RAB and i have to tell you I love your stuff. i look forward to reading it all the time and it’s brought a new dimension to my Yankee fanhood. KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK MIKE and THANK YOU!
Sorry, Didnt know about Aceves and Marte’s status.
Yes, I know Mitchell didnt light it up at AAA, he is a bit older, and might be useful in a blowout loss or win.
Warren is older than the 3 B’s, and has shown maturity. I wouldnt throw him in the fire unless a blowout, either way.
A small taste of the big leagues is always good for confidence purposes.
Also, Gorecki=>Huffman esp. on defense.
In any situation, it is ludcrious not to bring reinforcements up from triple A a la Texas in case of blowouts, so one can keep the other two long stiffs (Mite, gaudin) fresh.
Hey Cito, why not bring up Wordekemper?
and Igawa?
Perhaps in an alternatime time line/universe where all shitty players turn into stars and the reverse hold true.
Picard and Data told me this me can be possible…..
amen. theo epstein does these little moves all the time, ehy the heck not……..
btw vazquez and mosely probably can pitch also. if pettitte is back on sunday they will take mosely out of the rotation also.
use the 40 man roster why the heck not…………….
what’s the reason besides not wanting to crowd the dugout/locker room for not calling up some of these guys? I’d like to see Brackman or Noesi in the pen along with Ring but maybe they want to limit the younger pitcher’s innings?
I am quite happy that Brackman is not being called up. It would likely be bad for his development and the front office has shown that they cannot put the success of a good starting pitcher who pitches well from the bullpen in the proper perspective.
Or they put it in the proper perspective and just don’t share the same view as you.
You better prepare yourself, because Brackman is very likely going to spend at least half a season in the bullpen before becoming a starter for the Yankees.
I agree it is possible and even likely. I am still frustrated with the Joba situation and would hate to see them make the mistakes with any other talented pitching prospect.
The minors serve two purposes in the development of a player:
1) Development of his skills
2) Conditioning to be able to play an entire season
The problem with Hughes and Joba is the Yankees only really worked on the first of those two goals and ignored the second. Neither one of them was conditioned to pitch anywhere near a full season, hence all the problems we’ve seen.
Let Brackman pitch a full season in the AAA rotation next year. Call him up to the bullpen in September. Do whatever fits the needs of the team in 2012.
anyone know if callin a guy up in september starts his arbitrtion clock? if so it would explain why they haven’t called up Noesi, Warren, Phelps, Betances, Brackman, Banuelos etc. i know i would’ve liked to see any of those guys last night over mitre.
but why not call up Dj mitchel, lance pendelton? its not like they’re gonna be superstars. or even recycled veterans like tim redding or jason hirsh..
IIRC the moment any Minor leaguer steps onto the MLB field during a game situation is when his service time starts, so yeah, basically if you call anyone up you’re going to start their service time. Unless you don’t use them, in which case, what’s the point?
Neither Redding or Hirsh is on the 40 man roster. Granted, there are opportunities to remove someone (Corona, for example) to make room for one of them. But let’s face it, both primarily were signed to eat up innings at AAA, not to serve in any capacity in NY.
What about bringing back ROGER CLEMENS?!?!?!?
OH MY GAWD!
What good is it to use Gaudin or Mitre? Will either of them make the
playoff roster? Will either of them be around next year? ………..
They seem to pitch well sometimes in relief but it is mostly when the
other team has already scored enough runs vs our starters.
The exact use that some chump AAA arm would be: soak up meaningless innings. Right now, in a game they’re going to lose, guys like Wood and Robertson probably need to throw an inning.
Does Zach Segovia have any innings to give us these next few weeks?
Obviously they were being hopeful, but I think Cash and Girardi were counting a bit too much on Ace and Marte returning. Almost makes me miss CHoP.
/notreally
the only thing that sucks about losing Chan Homerun Park is we aren’t going to get any more of these moments
Noesi is on the 40 man roster and Scranton is done. Why is he not either moved back to Trenton or brought up to the Yanks? Tampa had what 8 pitchers tonight? We need the extra help…just in case.